Undoing Insanity
by K.Columbine
Summary: She had lost the war of her soul, but was unable to redeem it with the ever present dark forces surrounding her. Emily Wayne battles with herself and the forces of evil which tempt her in the sequel to Shards of Insanity.
1. Chapter 1

"Morning and I should add my congratulations for finally turning seventeen!" I heard a shrill voice trill before curtains were thrust open blinding me to the world.

"No! Why isn't it still night time?" I moaned back into my pillows to receive a laugh in return.

I turned while rapidly blinking my slowly adjusting eyes to see the comical sight of my adoptive father, Bruce Wayne, and my psychotic aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange, and I couldn't help my internal cringe. Bellatrix had taken me for quite a turn by pitching up in the beginning of the month demanding my return to Britain so that I could fulfil her plans by becoming the first next generation Death Eater. I had been entirely shocked by her proud proclamations that I would be the perfect surrogate daughter with an already flourishing desire to study the Dark Arts that I had smacked myself across my face to ensure that I wasn't stuck in another nightmare. Once I was quite certain of reality I had explained to her that I couldn't return to Britain until I had dealt with my "Joker problem" and while she seemed enraged at the fact that I was stuck in Gotham she had decided to help me speed the process up by offering her assistance. At first I had protested, but after she had pointed out to me that I had no proper plans laid out in order to eliminate my problem I had conceded defeat and she had stayed on at the famous Wayne Manor under the rouse of being my mother's distant relative who had found out about my plight by fluke and wanted to lend a hand in comforting me. I had set a ground rule that while she was in Gotham City she was not to harm any of the people who I was desperately trying to protect even going so far as to kill for. She was stunned by my love for the city's people and was quite concerned that they were all very depraved themselves in one way or another. She was equally impressed by Wayne Manor and Bruce's occupation with Wayne Enterprises and actually spent an evening or two asking him about the schematics behind his family's business while I artfully observed the wheels in her head turning. In the beginning I was frightfully afraid and freaked out by the situation, but during the thirteen days that she had been in Gotham sticking to her word Bellatrix had kind of grown on me. I was still dreading the time when she would come true to her word and whisk me away to Britain and allow for me to become something which I morally did not want to do, indeed. In the meantime though, she had been perfectly amiable with Bruce and Alfred even going so far as to teach me a few things that she knew about the Dark Arts and spell application and intent. She helped me get somewhat ahead in the syllabus for school which I was still in two minds about and while I learned about a bit of history on the Black family tree she also listened intently to the in depth tale of my abduction by my arch nemesis.

She told me an interesting interpretation of how her part of the family had perceived my mother's disappearance. The family had learned about her departure to Gotham through the one liner left by her and naturally they had read up on the city to find that it was a place which was built on a darker form of magic than they were capable of. I was surprised by that fact and the family had assumed that my mother was under an enchantment by the city in all of its madness thus the result of my birth explaining why they were too scared to come and take the enchantment off not fully understanding the darker form of magic themselves. That gave me some material to ponder about in the recess of my mind and decided that if I returned to the Wizarding World I had to read up on the supposed darker form of magic. Bellatrix was impressed by my cunning when I had explained my successful plan of isolating my enemy to take _him_ down while Bruce was at a board meeting. It was my first day back in Gotham and the press was already going off their rocker and at a certain question I had let the signature scarf drop from my face revealing the horrid scars to their collective intake of breath. I had proudly proclaimed sending a message through the famed media that I would be spending my time at the docks watching the sun go down and about a week later _his_ reply had come that he would be making a killing of docking men on July the thirteenth. Our discreet conversation had made it clear that we understood our time and location and that it would be our ultimate show down.

"Good morning and happy birthday," Bruce had said bringing me out of my thoughts. "Did you sleep alright?"

"Yeah," I answered honestly and it really was the truth. Ever since the evening at the Ministry my nightmares of my abduction and psychosis had been subsiding to an impressive non existence which I found curious and relieving at the same time. "Are you excited for your flight to France later on?"

"Me excited for boring jet lagged flights across the world to meet with equally boring investors? Never, but I am truly sorry that it had to fall on your birthday." He was looking at me with an expression of sorrow while I pulled myself into a sitting position.

"Don't worry about it besides there are tons of other birthdays to be around for and to me it's just a number anyway, another mark on the getting older calendar." I lightly told him while Bellatrix perched herself on the edge of my bed.

"Already counting the crease marks, my dear?" She joked lightly. "We still have the morning to have a lovely birthday breakfast."

"Yeah!" I said cheerily. "But before we do that can I get ready for the day?"

"Of course," Bruce said and motioned towards my aunt. "Let's wait down in the dining hall, shall we?"

I waited for a few seconds after they had left before gently climbing out of bed to prepare myself for the day taking care to properly shower and avoid the mirrors in the rooms pinching myself at the reality of one phobia which I hadn't let go of yet. Despite my fading psychosis a single glance at my reflection would have me crumbling to the floor with the laughing and screaming voices rushing back rendering me unable to discern my location the images were so vivid. I had really tried to cure myself of that horrible Achilles tendon, but after the first ten failed attempts I had given up and resorted to covering all the reflective objects as I had become used to. After selecting and dressing into the most practical attire to be seen in I attached the newest concealment holster I had come to design for my wand which was placed along my wand arm and with a simple flick of my wrist my wand would appear in my hand. I wasn't too sure about how I should have felt about coming of age where the Trace would be removed, but also wondered about why it was that I was in the wrong year at Hogwarts, Bellatrix had mentioned something about that mysterious Gotham magic again which piqued my curiosity even further. I took the long walk down to the dining hall and placed my invested expression back onto my face before entering to the chorus of "Happy birthday to you" which had me smiling and thanking Bruce and Bellatrix profusely over their gifts. I had told them that I really wasn't interested in receiving anything, but they had relented with books, one labelled _The City Built on Terror_ from Bellatrix and several science ones from Bruce. The morning after that had proceeded gently and by lunch time when it came to the time of Bruce's departure we had all driven with him to the airport to see him off. The early hours of the afternoon was spent preparing for the evening ahead with Bellatrix and going over spells which may come in handy in case any trouble arose with me persistently reminding her of the Statue of Secrecy even if the Trace had been removed.

The sun had almost reached the horizon which was our cue and after telling Alfred that we fancied seeing a movie and were going to be taking a very long time Bellatrix had taken my arm and I felt the squeezing sensation of a side along Apparition. We landed in a small puddle of what seemed to be gasoline which was the omen of a very testing evening and stepped towards the locked front gates to the private sector of the docks. Spread across the gates was a poster from my father's old election days with graffiti on his face giving him the trademark Glasgow Smile and instead of his name on the slogan the words read as _I believe in Emily Dent_. Bellatrix made a disgusted sound as we approached the gate for me to unlock them normally seeing as I had the code for them negating the need for any magic.

"Remember this guy would most likely have us on surveillance at all times so keep the secret weapon thing to a minimum and also _he_ will try to kill me several times before I see _him_ most likely in the most psychologically damaging ways possible." I said as we pushed our way through the gates closing them quietly behind us.

"This freak is worse than the Dark Lord who at least has the decency to kill someone outright, what is with him and breaking down the minds of these people?" my aunt's voice echoed eerily around the empty yard.

"_His_ main objective is complete chaos, _he_ doesn't like order very much and _he_ also does not appreciate people calling _him_ a freak so if we want this to go smoothly I would refrain from using that term," the sun had touched the horizon and with it the two buildings besides us had exploded knocking us around on our feet as hot air rushed over us.

"What was that?!" I heard through the roaring flames.

"Emily!" An awful voice was heard booming through some sound system. "I see you've made it just on time! What I don't like though, is that you bought a friend along. I thought that this was going to be a "you and I" reunion with no adult supervision. Pity, I thought you were better than that."

At those words I flung myself into Bellatrix knocking us several feet away from where a speeding bullet had imbedded itself on the tarmac.

"Oh so you have that same old heroic streak that had you running back home," the nasally voice spoke out again. "Well, there is a lovely sniper man dead for you."

A shot was heard echoing across from the bay and Bellatrix turned to the sound having never heard it before with a curious expression on her face.

"Okay, seeing as you are still under-aged one adult is allowed, but here is the catch I was going to give you three hours to get to your new daddy's ship before it and all of Gotham goes sky high, now you only have one," the voice madly cackled for a few seconds and recovered enough to laugh out a last line. "Oh and do be careful, some of the things you will encounter are a little, uh, volatile."

There was a bit of static as the line cut off and Bellatrix and I looked to each other, me in abject terror and her with a wide eyed expression not fully comprehending the situation as the buildings around us burned.

"I know where to go and we need to hurry," I said in determination and gesturing to her I took to the burning buildings.

"Are you seriously going to walk into a bunch of burning death traps?" she called after me following on shortly.

"Yes. This is the fastest route and if we run through the buildings fast enough we should beat their collapse which is due any minute now." I sucked in a breath of fresh air before plunging into the smoking danger zone.

"And you aren't going to cast any protective spells?" she climbed in behind me.

"Nope, lessens the urgency if you ask me," I looked to her before running through the dropping flames and smoke.

"Lessens the urgency?" she scoffed before running after me and it took a few minutes of my lungs burning up before I managed to kick open a door which was on fire and collapsed to have a small coughing fit while she caught up.

After she had regained her breath and discretely cleared my lungs with a non-verbal spell I stood up and shook my head clear of the tears which had formed and the foggy sensation in my mind.

"Thanks," my voice was rather gravelly from the smoke which had burned out my trachea.

"Don't mention it and the urgency?" she asked and we were sprinting through a large section which devoted to cranes and shipping containers.

In our run to Bruce's ship we had encountered several people with guns who I had taken down with my own one which I was glad I kept on me at all times for "nostalgia's sake". My companion in the run had taken a rather curious glance in my direction at my seemingly callous murders, but I was far too set to bother with any words only going forwards. After the cranes and containers there was only a building and an otherwise short run before the boarding section which would have the ship docked neatly and waiting. The building was a viable shortcut to run through, but when we got there I found the door covered in wires which had me stopping and my aunt crashing into me.

"What is it now?" she asked peering at the door in confusion.

"The building is rigged; we need to go through a window." I found a window which would be easy enough to climb through and smashed it with a rock which was conveniently lying around.

She wordlessly followed me through the window and I found another barrier to this hurried hour; barrels of gasoline all rigged like the night that Rachel died and I swallowed the memories letting my frustration overtake everything else. I kicked over a barrel and my anger refocused into determination as we took off to the end of the room and found the exit similarly rigged only no windows were present to climb out of this time. I inspected the rigging and found that the entrance's wires would have to be the ones to be cut so I flicked my wand out taking aim and fired a cutting spell at the wires. They cut successfully and we were out of the building to the final gates with a broken padlock lying on the ground before the boarding section where I saw a familiar figure standing and I stopped to turn to my aunt.

"It is the intent behind the spell that makes it work right?" I asked in uncertainty with my breath catching up to me.

"Always," she looked at me curiously.

"Wait here for me, will you? This will only take a few minutes," she nodded and I pushed open the gates.

I strode forward with a brisk pace the moment stretching out with the sky a deep shade of purple and the city's lights already notifying the world that it was coming to life. I remarked on the city's dark beauty while holding on to my wand tightly and trying not waver in my resolve and far beyond any reason. I looked ahead and the figure's features had morphed into the purple painted monster which was loosely holding onto a detonation device while grinning madly at my approach.

"Oh how wonderful that you made it! I told you that you could-" he started with his insane screaming laugh before I cut him off.

"Avada Kedavra!" I coldly cast in his direction.

I watched as the green light which lit us up struck his chest, his expression bemused as it slowly slipped off to the one of death; I did not avert my gaze as the detonation device slipped from his cold grasp nor did I flinch when the sound of his falling body hit the ground in a fleshy slump. I stood for a few more seconds before banishing the detonation device and looked to the corpse of the purple painted monster which had taken residence in my mind. I turned and left the creature behind to walk back to Bellatrix who stood frozen to the spot with her mouth hanging open as if she had expected something completely different than that.

"The police are due to show up in several minutes," I spoke coolly in response to the sirens that were blaring in the distance no doubt alerted by the explosions. "I would rather not face them and I want to go home to shower the filth off of me."

She looked as if she had been slapped so in a dumb trance had taken my proffered arm and Apparated us back to the entrance of Wayne Manor where I let myself in and without another word I briskly made my way up the stairs leaving my flabbergasted aunt gaping at my retreating form. That evening after scrubbing myself raw I holed myself up in the living room with my eyes glued to the television screen, the cables and remote had long ago been returned, which was set on GCN. Alfred had come rushing into the room followed by a still stunned Bellatrix when the news reporter had received the news of the police discovering my nemesis's body, but I stayed still that entire evening watching the channel continuously updating itself on the situation. She had stayed with me for some time that evening watching the changing television screen with mild interest before heading off to bed when the reporters started rambling on about back stories. At dawn when they had started refreshing the day's news feeds I rose from my stiff position and turned the television off before letting myself fall into my bed's embraces and accepted the sleep which came.


	2. Chapter 2

_The Joker: confirmed dead as Gotham celebrates!_

The headlines blared at me while one of _his_ most famous images glared out at me from the newspaper I held early on July the fifteenth. That previous day had been a complete write off seeing as I had slept all of it away not bothering with meals or using the bathroom which had seemed to fly right over Bellatrix's and Alfred's heads. I suppose Alfred had thought that I was relieved that the entire affair was over and that I was able to get a great deal of sleep while Bellatrix may have been a bit apprehensive about interrupting my sleep. I could not be bothered to think about it really as my main area of concern in my mind was the moment when I had callously used an Unforgivable Curse. I could have rationed with myself that if _he_ had received a just punishment it may very well have not worked seeing as _he_ had escaped all of _his_ previous incarcerations, but the words of reason were squashed when those probing voices insisted that there did exist another magical method of murder or even the gun. What dominated my thoughts, however, was the fact that _he_ had won. Bellatrix insisted that I was the one who had the victory, but I knew that was a whole lot of hogwash when it came to this particular situation; _he_ had repeatedly told me that it was only a matter of pushes until I snapped and became the very monster _he_ wanted me to become. I could have let Bruce sort the mess out as Batman as he was wont to do, yet I had truly lost that little glimmer of light that existed in my soul and set out to murder my creator. Just like my father I had come to fall and I hadn't seen the transformation until it was too late with the news stations and printed press releasing the information of _his_ death. Naturally I swore myself to secrecy and only hoped that my aunt had enough foresight to never mention the event to anyone even if it held a supporter to her case to recruit me as a Death Eater. I was even too terrified of my transformation to attempt a glance at a reflective surface and I most likely would never willingly look to my reflection again. The slamming of a hand hitting the surface of the dining table bought me back into focus of reality to see Bellatrix who wore a frustrated expression.

"Good Merlin! You have been sitting like that for two hours!" she exclaimed and I blinked slowly while setting the paper down. "I would have thought that you would be relieved that the freak is dead."

"I am. _His_ death spells a new era of safety to the people of Gotham now that they don't have to worry about being spontaneously blown up." I started and picked at my hard cold toast.

"Why are you so comatose then?" she demanded.

"I told you, even though _he_ has been taken out, it is _he_ who gets the final laugh," my tepid water was a better option to consume.

"I don't follow. You murdered him; he is out of the picture for good and can't hurt you anymore. How is it possible that he "gets the final laugh"?" her voice came out in a huff.

"_He_ won. _He_ was entirely ecstatic that my father turned into a murderous lunatic, but when he died that conquest fell out of the window and _he_ clearly had some sort of an idea that would happen so a contingency plan was needed. _He_ had deliberately twisted me and pushed me to become the very monster that _he_ is." I decided that the water was far too tepid to be enjoyable so I set that aside as well.

"But you're not a monster and he had to die or bad things would have continued to happen to Gotham," she started her case. "You had no other choice."

"You know what the horrible thing is?" I laughed humorously staring at the grains of the table.

"What?" she looked at her wits end.

"I cannot feel remorseful about it at all," my toast definitely did not look as appetising as it did two hours ago. "When I remember the power of the curse and the rush of it all, all that control and ability, it consumes me. I want to do it again, this monstrous energy of being able to drop anyone I fancy, I feel god like."

"Well don't feel morally torn up about it, embrace that energy, embrace it and be in charge of the situations you are in. I find that I look at it like a gracious gift that this energy comes so naturally to you, your power and skill is far more advanced than anyone I have ever seen at your age apart from the Dark Lord of course, but you, you are a gem to the world." She urged me.

"Perfectly pruned to take on the world," I considered burning the toast as a dry laugh escaped from me.

"Precisely," I banished the toast before I caved into my inner desires as she brightly sat up.

"I take it that you will want to whisk me away to Britain now that I have proven myself to be murderous enough," I looked to her as I said this, my mind focussing on her core reason of being in Gotham in the first place.

"Well that is one of the reasons why I came to you this morning," she started uneasily. "The Dark Lord summoned me this morning and I thought it would be prudent to put off your arrival until August so I can go ahead to put in the necessary preparations. I must leave today, though."

"Oh. Well that does seem fair trade though, I am terribly sad that you have to leave so soon, but it does sound like the most intelligent idea." I said and sent a frown in the direction of my water which had started to irritate me as well.

"I too am distressed by our short amount of time together, but I will be seeing you later so that compensates enough," she said this as if the time in August would be any amount of relaxed.

"True," my water was the next thing to be banished.

"Right, but now is the time I need to go as it would be unwise to test the Dark Lord's patience any further," she rose from her seat as I looked to her. "Try not to get into any trouble and send my regards to those who are concerned."

"Can't make any promises on the trouble part, but the latter will happen." I grinned up to her. "Be safe and be cunning."

"Am I anything but?" were her final words before she disappeared with a crack.

I let my expression fall as my breath rushed out in a huge sigh to the empty space around me. I felt indisposed to get up so I summoned my school work and set to examining and perfecting my holiday home work as I felt that I wouldn't have much time and space to do so in the near future. Once the work was completed and my muscles felt cramped enough I stood and made my way to my room to deposit my belongings on my bed before setting to the grounds edging towards the perimeters. In my previous term of studying the Dark Arts I had come across Wards and I was set on securing the property with some of them to rival the protection of Hogwarts. Of course I wasn't able to make the place completely hidden, but I made sure that they were able to keep any ne'er do wells' thinking patterns far from the location and I set alarms to alert me if anyone had managed to posses any ill intention towards Wayne Manor. My day was spent throwing my attention into this activity while parts of my thoughts were focussed on making plans to keep the city safe through magic. The Statue of Secrecy would definitely be having words with me on that topic, but in those moments I entertained the fantasies of never having to have that gut wrenching sense of worry for the city which I would die to protect.

The very next day Bruce was due to arrive back in a rejoicing Gotham so I accompanied Alfred to the airport to joyfully receive a surprised looking Bruce who had only found out about the demise of our enemy by glancing at a newspaper stand. The papers and the media were doing a great job of continuously reminding the city of a new light which had come about by doing thorough run downs of the event and secret revelations found on the scene. I had insisted that I knew nothing about the event and that it had taken me by great surprise that it had come to be, but I was still equally relieved and happy by it all the same. I had kept my magic to a minimum for the remaining month and decided that it would be a good idea to eat my food when I had received it instead of getting irritated by it. My sleep had come and gone in phases in that time as well; I would sometimes receive entire evenings of I while at other times I would become overwhelmed by my old sleep phobia and sit up reading all the books I could. My science books were easy enough to get a coherent grasp on while the book that Bellatrix had given me had me scratching my head over the obscurity of it. The book seemed to be a complete fable on how war had set the infrastructure of Gotham while a demon-bat had been summoned by the founders in an occult ritual to settle and spread its influence around the city. There was also some hogwash about some evil being which had been sleeping under the city for over forty thousand years and that some vague prophecy had stated that the being and the demon-bat's spirits would merge to be reborn in a powerful and corrupted sorcerer. The book was better for laughs than anything else and I reminded myself to ask Bellatrix about this practical joke when I saw her next.

I had relished myself in Bruce's company while I still had the chance to and whenever he went to Wayne Enterprises I had followed intent on learning all I could about the running of the business. He was a bit surprised in the beginning, but mainly happy that I had taken such an intense interest in my future and even went so far as to tell me of possible directions that could be taken and gave me a thorough lecture of the extent of the business's influence which I found most enlightening. We did not talk much of the media's current vapid interest out of respect for each other's past conflicts with the man which made both of us glad. During the remaining days of the month I had received a letter from Bellatrix stating a meeting time and place and I had relayed this to Bruce in the form of a question about seeing a friend which made him look as if a ton had been taken off of his shoulders. He had said that he was only too glad that I had friends who I could see and would organise a flight to England for the first week of August promising my unsure expression that he would be perfectly at ease with Alfred and that our once a week letters would still stand as fine. I still could not help, but feel apprehensive about what was to transpire with Bellatrix's plans still floating around my head and setting me on edge. I had made sure that all of my possessions were in order so that the day of my departure would not feel that much more stressed.

Stressed it felt, indeed. It was a relaxed and familiar sensation of leaving the Manor arriving at the airport to the usual fanfare which followed us around as if it did not have anything better to do with one million questions shouted in our direction. I had settled into the private security flight, Bruce was still rather paranoid as was evident by our heartfelt goodbye, and had taken a nap to kill any potential jet lag which loved to cause more stress and discontent. My landing was smooth and with my shrunken trunk inside my school bag I had passed through the countless questions thrown in my direction while my sunglasses shaded my eyes from the flashing cameras. I had hailed a cab and gave it directions to the street which was a block away from the Leaky Cauldron and walked the rest of the way with my heart hammering away in my chest. On my arrival I had noticed that I had about four hours to spare so having received my requirements list with my eleven Os from the O. I had set to replacing worn utensils with a few extra pairs of robes and purchasing the new text books needed. I spent some time lingering at the book shop while contemplating the need for extra books which the Room of Requirements could bring up when I would skim through them in record time with the information sticking forever negating the need to refer back to them. I shook my head at my internal crisis while leaving the shop with only the necessary books and made my careful way up a bleak looking Diagon Alley to the pub. Once there I quickly used the lavatories to pack my purchases appropriately enough and after my task was complete I sat at the bar with a glass of water twiddling my fingers while waiting anxiously for my pick up. I did not have to wait much longer as the door opened with my nervous glance sending my head in the direction of a searching Narcissa and a pale looking Draco. I did not have the patience to wait for the shamed Malfoys to find me so I jumped from my seat making sure that all was neat and orderly before walking up to them and smirked at their surprise when I seemingly Apparated in front of them.

"Hello!" I said brightly disguising my nerves and flung them into an awkward group hug. "Hugs are to be sent all around for the happy family!"

"Mother, people are staring," Draco whined and I immediately let go of them.

"Well there is much to be done so let us depart quickly," my voice was high pitched as I bounced slightly on my toes.

"That's a little eager," Draco muttered darkly, but was scolded by Narcissa.

"Are you feeling well?" The woman had asked me and I saw something flicker through her eyes which reminded me horribly of pity.

"Oh just chipper, couldn't be better!" My eyes had taken to flying around the room. "Shouldn't we be getting on with our journey?"

"Yes, we should," my aunt had sighed. "We are going by Side-Along Apparition so we need to get to an Apparition point. Follow me."

I nervously stuck by her side while Draco trailed along behind us and soon we came to a place which did not look very different from anything else, but who was I to point out anything? Draco and I had taken hold of an arm each and we prepared for the unpleasant sensation of having our entire body squeezed out in a vacuum. I stumbled a bit at our landing and after making sure I still had all faculties in order I followed my relatives up an unusually large drive way for people who were not in possession of auto-mobiles while ogling at the white peacocks on the grounds.

"Um, Aunt Narcissa," I hurried closer to the two.

"Yes Emily," she replied with that light pitying tone which made me wince.

"What exactly is going to be happening?" I asked while the mansion started coming into view.

"Bella will be here to greet us and after dinner you will be taken to the Dark Lord for a most gracious audience," she answered and I gulped silently.

"So, uh, is everyone still super serious about the next generation Death Eater formation?" I nervously laughed and Draco made a scoffing noise at the back of his throat.

"Those answers will come with the Dark Lord's decision tonight," she responded rather ominously.

"Can't hurt to be a little over prepared, might need to know if I should conceal any disfigurements on my arm," I joked lightly.

"What disfigurements on your arm?" she asked sharply.

"Uh, I had a little, um, accident in my past, there was a lot of burning and smoking flesh, crazy times, but they were all the greatest for character building," I rambled on as the mansion seemed to be getting closer faster. "Wow that came rather quick."

The mansion's doors had seemed to slam into view while pulling me roughly into the building before slamming shut in an ominously final way. I seemed at a loss of what to do and was desperately itching to turn tail and flee the despairing situation while screaming my head off. I suddenly wanted to be back in Gotham making plans to secure the Manor and attempting to realise my fantasies for making the city a safer place. _Don't you wish you could?_ I jumped at the echo in my mind and knocked my head around kicking the voice to the back of it. I followed Narcissa to the guest room which I supposed was mine for the stay and she left me to get comfortable while telling me that dinner was in an hour and that a house elf would show me to the dining hall. After the door had been gently shut I collapsed onto the bed and stared at the ceiling contemplating my existence in Britain; my becoming a Death Eater sounded really unintelligent if my place was in an entirely different country. I sighed and let a few homesick tears linger in my eyes before blinking them away scolding my weakness over being such a child in this situation and told myself to grow up. I sat up casting my gaze around the room and was glad that the mirrors were angled in such a way that I could not see my reflection letting the relief flow through me before placing a concealment charm on it. I figured that my audience with Voldemort might be of some significance so I pulled out my newest set of robes and covered my muggle clothes with them. I had pulled up my left sleeve on a second thought that had come to me and wistfully looked at the marred flesh wincing at the remembered traces of pain while wondering if the branding would terribly hurt. A knocking was heard at the door bringing me out of my revere while increasing my nerves. The House Elf which had been sent to retrieve me was friendly enough chatting away about how Narcissa was so excited that I would finally be coming to stay and how Draco could finally have someone his age to talk to. I had listened with my mind jumping around the place considering the possibilities and feasibilities of jumping out of the windows and making a break for it while memorising the path that the Elf was taking me along. The dining hall had revealed that there were only Narcissa, Bellatrix and Draco present and I was sure that everyone who had looked up to my arrival had seen my shoulders drop. I was seated next to Draco while my aunts were on the opposite side of the long table with the head notably empty.

"Emily!" Bellatrix had delightfully started. "How has your city been fairing in my absence?"

"Oh, the usual spate of petty theft and murder which the media is covering up in order to favour the thirteenth," my voice was clear and calculated while the other two in the room breathed in audibly. "It is nothing consequential really."

"You have to love your fans," she stated somewhat sarcastically. "Are you still feeling morally torn up about murder?"

"I haven't really thought about it too much," the food had arrived so I had picked at the contents on my plate too nervous to full myself too much.

"So what have you been doing?" she asked as she viciously stabbed into the roast.

"Immersing my interests into my father's business and reading, oh, and I need to ask you about the book you gave me, it raised quite a few questions with me," the roast tasted fair enough, but I still had that strange desire to vanish my food.

"So you read it, was it informative?" she took a gulp of her wine.

"It was informative as any fable goes, my history classes had a very different version on how Gotham was built," my ears had caught the slight gasp from the other two when I had mentioned my city's name.

"Fable; that is no fable my dear, that text is the most supported on how the city came to be," she had started on her vegetables while I shifted mine around on my plate.

"Um, Bella, no one really knows how that place came to be." Narcissa had placed herself into the conversation. "In fact many don't know about its whereabouts or existence."

"Well to those who know of its location and existence that piece is about as text book as it gets," Bellatrix had shot back.

"Which raises the question," I had started not bothering with my beverage after the food had started to become troublesome. "How come magical folk don't know anything about the place?"

"Legend says that there is a curse, most wicked and vile, that was born with it and that this curse deters all who wish to come," Bellatrix reverently said in a low voice.

"That doesn't make sense though," I continued shifting around my food. "How come my mother and every other person were able to get there?"

"That is where the "Gotham effect" comes into play," that had me looking up in her direction with a sceptical expression written clearly on my face. "Those who manage to find out about the existence and location become enchanted by the city so much that they will do as much as possible to move there."

"So what of the many people bent on its destruction?" I said remembering the legendary Terror Night a few years back in the Narrows.

"Those are the people who are aware of its danger and wish to eliminate it," a nervous tapping was heard from the door way and we all looked up to see a cloaked man who cleared his throat.

"The Dark Lord had arrived and wishes to have a private audience with Emily Black in the drawing room," he stated with his voice wobbling slightly.

"It's Wayne." I stood up noisily and banished the food out of habit before walking to the man. "Wish me luck."

"Now Emily," Bellatrix stood and made her way to me her intent on showing the directions evident in the way she had dismissed the man. "Remember when you address the Dark Lord, you may only call him "my Lord" and only speak when spoken to. Bow to his presence and be courteous in every way possible. Have you got that?"

"Right as rain, clearer than bottled water, straight as a bullet," I followed her along the corridors which would lead to my doom. "Anything else I need to be made aware about?"

"Everything he does is for a greater reason than we could ever comprehend," she reverently stated and finally stopped outside a door. "This is it; keep a clear head and you should do well."

"Thanks," she left me standing by the door and I sucked in a deep breath before knocking timidly at the smooth wood.


	3. Chapter 3

"Enter," a high cold voice sounded from within and my hand dropped to turn the shiny door handle.

I nervously crept into the room and shut the door behind me the click of the lock shutting sounding obnoxiously loud in my head as I turned to face Lord Voldemort who was standing with his back facing me in front of a warm fire roaring away. I used the ruse of scratching at my neck to slide my grasp over my father's old half burnt coin which I had attached to my neck with an enchanted chain. The man had only motioned for me to come forwards so after a small breath I had obliged and stopped when I thought that I was a respectable enough distance away. He had turned around to face me and my heart thudded painfully in my chest as I took in his face. The last time I had seen him was when I was cooked out on sleep deprivation and was behaving rather strange so I was terrified about the repercussions for my bizarre courage.

"Have a seat, I don't desire for you to pass out onto the floor," he motioned to one of the arm chairs in the room so I quickly and wordlessly moved to sit down not intent on disobeying him thus incurring his wrath. "Are you aware on why you are here?"

"I can't be too sure." I began slowly and cautiously. "I have a vague idea that my aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange, desires for me to become one of your followers and take your mark, but after this afternoon's lack of any information I assumed that something has changed."

"Yes, I see now why you were placed in Ravenclaw despite last year's act of bravery. Indeed, certain pieces of information have been brought to light which thus prevents me from giving you my mark," he positioned himself so that he had a direct position to view me. "I must ask though, what is your experience of the Dark Arts?"

"Well, uh, at first it had started out with a simple comparison between the Restricted Section and the forbidden books that the Room of Requirement had to offer," his eyes had glinted at my mention of the Room, but I continued. "After seeing that the Room had more books to offer than anything I had decided that in light of recent events investing my attention as a distraction method could be very helpful, but as time passed I found myself in the throes of learning that I could hardly spare any time for anything else."

"Interesting," he mused for a bit. "Do you know that you killed four of my followers at the Ministry?"

"I knew that the spell, if cast competently enough, would kill, but I had assumed that seeing as I had gotten no actual practise on the spell I would only have rendered them unconscious and highly feverish for some time," my eyes reflected painfully on that fact.

"You haven't gotten any practise with the killing curse, but you were able to competently kill that muggle all in complete ease," he let the words sink in while green dominated my vision and a vicious voice laughing into my ear: _I won!_ "How curious it is that you lay claim to natural proclivities for the Dark Arts while you are able to remorselessly rip apart your soul."

"I wouldn't say it is all that natural for me to kill," I glanced into the fire while the easier to control explosions flashed across my eyes. "I was murdering in the name of protecting my city and even though I became a monster in order to do so I desired my city's protection above all else."

"Yes, Gotham City; the very reason why you can never take my mark." I frowned at his remark casting my gaze back to him and strongly resisted bashing my head in at his next question. "How much do you know about Gotham's Dark Magic?"

"Nothing, but a fable and a few legends," I shifted while digging my nails into my legs. "There does not seem to be much stock to Gotham having any Dark Magic to speak of as the city hadn't seen a magical person for hundreds of years until my mother arrived."

"You do not believe that your city is teeming with Dark Magic such so that it would suffocate any soul which the city does not deem worthy to enter," he condescendingly told me. "And you truly would die to protect those depraved souls which the city only knows to admit. How fascinating that is."

"I don't believe in the obscure dressed up as a fairy tale and especially when these tales slate my city as an entity which wishes to kill," my eyes were hard as I felt a defensive sensation rise in me at the insults thrown at my city. "Nor am I caught up with how this supposed "Dark Magic" is applicable in any situation concerning me and Britain."

"This Dark Magic is the reason why you were born and why you cannot join my ranks," he started and his eyes glinted dangerously. "The very essence of that city is within your soul and it binds you as you grow stronger; your presence in any link would corrupt the entire chain and destroy it."

"Oh fancy that, then explain my corruptible presence in Britain when I could be keeping an eye on Gotham," I was losing my patience with this insane idea which had sprung up.

"You are an invaluable asset in the field of Dark Magic," my jaw met the floor in my frustrations over Wizarding stupidity. "This is why you shall be sufficiently trained in the Dark Arts while I figure out how to cultivate your power."

"Great," I slumped in the arm chair. "Let's give the volatile monster more powers to completely destroy the world because that is very intelligent."

"I would say so," he said slightly affronted. "Your training starts tomorrow, do be prepared."

"I wouldn't ever dream of not being," I frowned as the screaming laughter sounded slightly too loud to be comfortable.

"Now leave and do not tempt your already tempted family members with mention of that cursed city." I snapped into a straight standing position and walked to the door.

"There really is no rational thinking with the Wizarding World, is there?" I turned to see his back.

"There is plenty of rational thinking, you are simply blinded," his tone sounded final so I swiftly swept out of the room shaking my head at his impudence.

As I made my way back to my room too exhausted to deal with my family members I fumed over Voldemort's words claiming that Gotham City was a place lacking in any moral while being so dark that even he was reticent to enter such a place. I would admit that the city has seen a fair share of atrocities to the human race, but it certainly not corrupted by fairy tale magic intent on murdering anyone not worthy enough in addition to the many great people that the city had raised from the dumps. I definitely was not going to entertain the notion of the city even having magic to begin with and while I was grateful for Voldemort's naive belief in it preventing me from either dying or betraying my inner morals I did not accept it as fact and I would refuse to speak of such blasphemy. I wouldn't even begin to get started on his jab at me at my murdering that I committed even though it was entirely necessary. I was not in the greatest of moods that evening so on my arrival to my room I made sure that the Concealment Charm on the mirror would hold for the span of a week and after readying myself for bed I fell into the covers.

I woke to the darkness of the early hours of the morning and after deciding that sleep was far too overrated for these hours I got up and made my way to the en-suit to ready myself for the day. That was a bit of a challenge in itself as the room was covered in reflective surfaces so after a slight panic attack from running from the room I had determinedly covered my eyes and shot off as many Concealment Charms as I was sure was necessary. Once I was satisfied with my work of a mirror free environment I went about refreshing my appearances and pulling a set of robes over my muggle clothes which I felt was far more practical to wear than anything else. I was disinclined to sit around waiting for something to take me by surprise so I left the room and wandered around the halls my behaviour reminding me of my previous experience with exploring Hogwarts at night. There wasn't much to be said about Malfoy Manor that I hadn't seen before; Hogwarts had its fair share of magic infused into the architecture and while I hadn't been living there long Wayne Manor inspired far more admiration as far as mansions went. All that being said though, it was interesting to find many heirlooms littered proudly about the place as if they actually held any important worth asides for the inevitable event when the family ran out of cash and had to sell off items to keep their living. I had found myself on a high balcony which snapped me out of my aimless drifting and shuddering at the memory of my throwing myself out a two story window at school I shook my head muttering to myself as I made my way down to the dining hall. Breakfast was a subdued affair without Bellatrix who, as Narcissa had told me, had to leave on a mission for Voldemort and that it wasn't all too safe for her to be lurking around when the Ministry was prone to sudden searches of the place. I was quite fine with that as that made it easier to not mention anything pertaining to my city and I was sure that Narcissa did not desire to hear anything which would tug at her conscience. Soon after breakfast which was half eaten and half vanished I was ushered into the same drawing room which was empty with a fire started. I had tensed up expecting a foul play on the first session only to jump back as the fire turned green spitting out professor Snape to my utter surprise. I stood gaping for a while until I was told to pick my jaw off the ground and sit down lest I desired to remain looking like an idiot.

"What are you doing here?" I asked looking around anxiously in case the person who was assigned to train my came in.

"Much like the rest of the school you are probably unaware of my loyalties to the Dark Lord," he started and took my arm dragging me to an arm chair. "Sit! It would be best that you do not acquire a concussion on your first try."

"My what, wait, what?" I flopped down on the arm chair in shock.

"Miss Wayne," he started and I warmed to the fact that he was the first person who had acknowledged my very legal name change. "There are many things you need to learn about war, but the most prominent is that spies become a necessity-"

"Oh yeah, I know all about war. I learnt a whole chapter on World War two about how Hitler was creating a super race although they were actually genetically inferior according to my Biology classes-" I had cut him off in a nervous babble only to be cut off myself by him raising his hand.

"I can see that you are caught up in the basics of war which means that you have to understand that I am a spy which is a very trying role to play," he urged and I nodded my head the gears already ticking slightly. "One of my roles which I am required to play is performing tasks which upkeep appearances so. seeing as the Dark Lord will not touch you and your aunt Bellatrix is not allowed anywhere near your mind, I am delegated the job of gauging your magic and teaching you to control your mind."

"Is he for real?" I asked disgusted at the information that Voldemort had taken such a heavy stance against that fairy tale.

"What are you on about?" the professor asked.

"Oh, honestly, Lord Voldemort is scared of a stupid fairy tale!" Professor Snape's eyes glinted at my use of the name, but I was beyond caring as I launched into a small rant. "You would expect that, seeing as he is leading an army of dark wizards, he wouldn't be terrified over a bunch of fables and horror stories, but no, I get it! I am so obviously dripping with dark magic instead of the factual corruption by a man who by all rights is more evil than him! Yes world, wizards know so much more than our precise and fine art of science!"

"I see," he said curtly. "You are in luck then as the motivating reason for my delegation is that I do not believe in those tales as well, but be that as it may I do not appreciate the use of that name in my presence."

"Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself," I muttered under my breath having heard the quote lost in my mind as I realised that I hadn't gotten over my aversion to referring to _his_ name at all. "I am not going to call him any of the ridiculous misnomers that he carries around so I will call him V."

"Fine," he conceded. "However, we are getting off track so to begin with I will take a look into your mind and observe any changes which are needed to allow you clarity. After I have taught you to organise and shield your mind, I will begin with your magic."

"Okay," I smiled a bit until something occurred to me. "Will it hurt?"

"Of course not," he answered a bit nonplussed and I saw him withdraw his wand from his sleeve. "Now prepare yourself, Legilimens!"

I had disappeared from the room and was flung into my mind. First I was young and walking home from school with my mother and not a second later she had been shot by some errant mugger. Second I was tearfully waving at my father as I walked through an airport on my way to England for my first year. Third I was meeting Luna Lovegood on the train in my second year with us discovering that we were very much the same as each other. Fourth my elation as I discovered my father's promotion and meeting Rachel feeling hopeful that I would finally have a whole family again. Fifth the terror of being torn away from my home by several men wearing clown masks to the jeering news of my father's impending death. Sixth bleeding out onto the lavatories' floor as my face burned and the chemical cocktail streamed through my blood system with my screaming ringing through my ears. Seventh my cold apathy as a jet of green light hit the chest of the purple painted monster as _his_ screaming laughter echoed through my mind. The onslaught of my memories was cut off and I returned to the room crouched over in the foetal position with the resounding _I won_ repeating itself over and over as I shivered desperately holding onto my sanity telling myself that it was for a good cause.

"Miss Wayne," I started at professor Snape's voice and hurriedly brushed away at the tears which had formed while my eyes wildly flew around the room. "Your mind is very fragile so-"

"It was for a good cause!" I shouted desperately. "If, if I didn't kill, if, the city was going to be blown up, everything that I have ever loved would have been destroyed. _He_ didn't win, I swear!"

"I understand," I looked up to see his pale face which was twisted in shock. "I wouldn't have expected anything different, however, it is very important that you speak about this or your mind will be lost to yourself leaving you with nothing of your former self."

"_He_ is the monster! I had to put _him_ down before anything else happened," my tears threatened to flood gate, but I held them in.

"Perhaps we should leave the organisation process well alone for the day," he said more to himself than me which did not matter to my gibbering mind.

"Dad was a wonderful person!" I shouted desperately. "He only killed those people because the monster egged him on!"

"I see that. I think I should get you to Narcissa to calm you down," he gently took me by the arm and led us out of the door.

We walked for a short distance with me not registering much around me in my paranoid hysterics and was handed off to a concerned looking Narcissa who took me to my room and fed me a vial of sleeping potion which effectively knocked me out for the day. I only wished that I was a Dreamless Sleeping Potion which I had enjoyed so much in my stay at the Hospital Wing.

_Pipes leaked in the back ground with the sound of the dripping water ominously echoing around the warehouse. I jerked as I realised that I was once again chained by rusty chains to the old rusted steel chair in the middle of the main storage room which was blissfully empty. The sound of vicious laughter and tortured screaming became apparent from behind me and I twisted with my heart rate picking up franticly as I struggled in my bonds which cut through my wrists letting blood run down the chair. I found myself violently ripped from the chair by stronger than real life arms and turned to face a horrifying scene; a blood soaked man was grotesquely bound and looked on the verge of passing out._

"_Hello little Emily, long time no see, I almost thought that, uh, you were avoiding me, that, uh, you DIDN'T LIKE ME!" I was thrown to the feet of the monster as it pulled my hair back to spit in my face. "Well, uh, what's your problem? You see what I have to contend with when I am GONE!"_

_The monster dragged me by the roots of my hair to the grotesquely bound man and shoved my unwilling gaze into his direction only for my heart to stop beating as I recognised the tortured man._

"_Dad," I asked hopefully. "Dad, is that really you?"_

"_Emily, you have to get out and save yourself," my father spoke to me even though it pained him. "Please, Emily, get out."_

"_Aw, is daddy telling little Emily that she needs to save herself?" the monster laughed and shoved me to the ground. "Daddy needs to realise that little Emily isn't worth saving anymore. Hey! Harvey, do you know that your precious daughter has done some very bad things?"_

"_Emily, get out now!" my father was becoming hysterical and I crawled to him intent on getting himself out of his bindings. "No! Save yourself and get out!"_

"_Oh, but little Emily is far beyond the realms of saving herself, I would even say that she is very much like us," the monster stomped down on my wrist and I screamed out in agony as I felt the bones crunch. "No, I tell you what little Emily is going to do. She is going to embrace our dying memories and become us, won't you darling Emily?"_

_My father yelled loudly as I looked to the monster which had picked me up by the neck and manhandled me into a kneeling position in front of my father who had started crying._

"_Dad," I said in growing confusion._

"_Oh, the plan has been in motion for quite some time and now YOU ARE GOING TO EMBRACE IT!" the monster had placed something, my wand, into my aching hand from the broken wrist. "So why don't you do that little light show for daddy and take on the world?"_

"_What?" Everything was becoming so surreal for me that I wasn't aware of my hand rising to point my wand in my father's direction._

"_Emily, get out!" my father yelled desperately._

"_Yes, you know the words, one second of agony and it is over," the monster laughed into my ear as its repugnant breath washed over my senses churning my stomach. "DO IT!"_

"_Avada Kedavra!" I had shouted in response and everything warped as I sunk to the bottom of a deep ocean._

"_Just so you don't forget," I turned in surprise to see the monster appraising me through gleeful eyes. "I won!"_

My scream carried through from the dream waking me up only to have hands push me back down as I struggled to slam my head through the bedside desk. After a frantic panting session I had turned to see Draco perched on the side of the bed regarding me through dubious eyes.

"Need I ask?" he drawled.

"Need I remind you of sleep phobia?" I returned croakily.

"Ouch," he let out a deep breath.

"I gather you are on suicide watch?" I sat up slowly my head painfully protesting the movement.

"I don't know what that is supposed to mean, but mother had me keep an eye on you so that nothing bad ended up happening," I rubbed my face as he said this and winced when my hands grazed over the scars so I quickly put my hands in my lap. "Are you okay?"

"Sure, I'm doing brilliantly, my personal psychopath just dropped in on my nightmares again," I balefully regarded him. "It's nothing serious though, so you needn't worry."

"Mother will have a fit when she finds out," he said nervously.

"She doesn't have to know though," I pointed this out to him. "Besides, the nightmares come and go; this one was just a little extreme."

"How extreme?" he pried.

"Very and that is what you need to know," my stomach growled loudly reminding me that the day must have passed.

"Very well," Draco suddenly stood as if remembering something and I blinked. "Mother said that when you woke I needed to take you to the kitchens to get some food so come on."

"Okay," I swept my legs out of the bed and pulled on my shoes which had been removed. "Take me to the master of food."

Draco had given me a weird look and dragged me off to the kitchens where the House Elves had prepared me a meal which I picked at while we sat in a companionable silence only broken by the occasional remark. After my scant meal we had made our way to the Library which I was elated by its existence and Draco had brushed up on his school work while I walked around scanning through any books which had caught my fancy. When Draco had found that it was time for him to retreat to bed I had trailed into my room and instead of sleeping I had paced around the room organising my possessions for a while until I had gotten bored and set to rearranging the furniture only to move it all back into their original positions and set to organising again. This routine carried on until the stars had faded into non-existence and the sky had taken on a deep purple hue which indicated that the day had begun and that I needed to refresh for the day.


	4. Chapter 4

It had taken two weeks of nonstop work to organise my mind and learn how to shield it against intense probing under professor Snape's instruction. In the beginning it had been a rather awkward experience having my secrets laid bare on the table, especially with the discovery of my lie to the staff on how I received my scars, and what made me dread sessions was the fact of my murders which had the professor warily eying me. In the two weeks I had opened my mind up letting the contents run rampant only for me to have to pack everything up neatly while putting an oversized padlock on my emotions which was bizarrely calming and grounding sanity-wise. The organisation and closure of my mind and emotions had also seen the escape of the nightmares which had long been twisting at my psych and warping my perception of necessity. The gears in my head had also been clicking around for some time leading me to conclude that professor Snape's true allegiance lay with the side of the light and while he did not comment on those squeaking thoughts he had definitely been amused by them. I had also been given a stack of Occlumency books of which I had devoured in the first day of being presented them and they had certainly lent aid in the process of my mind. I was confident to say that my mind was much clearer than it had been my entire life although I still had these insane urges to flee to Gotham and abandon everything to relive that evening of destroying _him_.

In my third and final week at Malfoy Manor it had come to the time of gauging my Dark Magic potential which had me rather paranoid as to if the tales were correct and I had become a walking time bomb. I was nervous throughout my entire half-eaten breakfast which I had become controlled enough to not vanish as I left the dining hall to the drawing room which had been delegated to my studies. I had entered casually sitting at the arm chair in front of the roaring fire and did not even jump when it turned green signalling the arrival of professor Snape.

"Good morning professor," I greeted him lightly.

"Good morning Miss Wayne," was his usual response. "I trust that you have given yourself ample rest for the day?"

"Oh, uh, more than I am used to," I admitted sheepishly remembering him telling me off for not resting my mind properly enough thus compromising my mental stability.

"Right," he did not sound thoroughly convinced, but carried on anyway. "After last night's session I had the joy of glancing into your eyes to find that your shield is at a sufficient enough level and your mind is most inevitably organised by this as well. Practise will improve over time so it is your responsibility to be on guard at all times and clearing your mind before you fall asleep must continue."

"Practise makes perfect," I assured him with my promise.

"Today I will be taking a gauge on your knowledge of the Dark Arts and your competency with performing curses, this information will be relayed to the Dark Lord who will decide on a course of action on it," he robotically said.

"That doesn't sound so horrible," I relaxed almost expecting a terrible duel.

The rest of the day was spent with a short lunch interval and me filling the professor in on my extensive knowledge which I had gained from the Room of Requirement. He was very surprised by my vast intellect although he was able to quickly mask his look of terrified shock and simply placed a demeanour of indifference to his person. Before being allowed to go to dinner that evening he had me place a curse on a dagger which would render any survivors of it incapacitated by their degenerating minds. The dagger was taken with professor Snape to Voldemort who would inspect the level of magic in it and its efficiency with the curse. I was certainly pleased to find out by the next day that I had no need to further study the Dark Arts as my knowledge was up to par with Voldemort's standards and that my only tasks would be to curse any objects which passed his fancy. It wasn't as if I did not enjoy the power that came with performing the Dark Arts, I very much did, but I had read a precautionary warning from one of the books which taught the topic that told of negative side affects to one's magic and mind which had me worried about another psychotic breakdown.

Bellatrix had occasionally joined Narcissa, Draco and me for casual check in lunches which were gentle enough given that she no longer seemed bent on swaying my opinion of Gotham and her focus was spent mainly on Draco asking him about the illustrious "plan" which he had been confidently throwing around as of late. His attitude had become confident about some secret knowledge which he had tried to bait me with to no avail as I had other things to worry myself over. He had also uncharacteristically threw his time into his father's pathetic excuse of a Dark Arts section in the Library telling me that he was researching for something great at which I had nonchalantly shrugged and carried on reading through a few of my text books as a break from the dark. It was through his constant jabbing at me to beg him for information that we had gotten closer than we had ever been with his incessant questions of dark objects and cursing techniques which I had impressed him with my knowledge. During my final weekend at Malfoy Manor professor Snape had been called away to Hogwarts to prepare for the upcoming academic year which had relieved me of anymore preparations of dark objects leaving me to listlessly stare into the flames in my lazed position on an arm chair from the fireplace in the Library where Draco was hurriedly looking through the books for something beyond my knowledge.

"You know I never got to tell him goodbye," I had randomly spouted on the Saturday before school.

"Tell who?" Draco had turned from his search several books weighing him down in his arms.

"Oh, put those books down and ask me what you are looking for, this Library is very under stocked," my head lolled in his direction. "My father, by the way, is the one I never got to say goodbye to."

"Which father?" he asked rather stupidly and dropped the books on a table to sit on an arm chair near me.

"My biological father," I gazed back to the flames and was irritated by the heat in my cheeks making the scars obvious.

"What do you mean?" I heard from besides me.

"The day that I was taken from my home was the last day I had ever seen him in person," I leant back away from the heat. "That monster had used the three of us against each other, if one of us displeased _him_; _he_ would kill the other two. Well, that is what I was told by the conniving psychopath because as it turned out _he_ had bigger plans than blackmail, corruption and anarchy were the bigger goals which weren't dependent on any of our behaviour. If someone had to die to prove a point then someone had to die regardless of good behaviour."

"You speak of three, but there is only your father and you." Draco mused to himself before raising his voice and inflection. "Who is the other?"

"Rachel Dawes, the one person I finally saw as being the one to replace my mother," for once I was in a state of fond remembrance. "She held the same morals as my father and me and she was beautifully kind hearted to the end. She would have married my father if they survived."

"That's terrible that she had to die then," my head turned to the side to see a contemplative expression on his face.

"Very terrible, indeed," I drawled out dryly. "Better though, because the world is not kind at all to unlikely survivors of war."

"How do you know?" he asked his face twisted in paranoia which I knew too well.

"Before I went to Hogwarts I had the pleasure of being educated by muggles and while you discredit them they are a force to be reckoned with," he was about to argue when I stopped him by carrying on. "In our deadly boring History of Magic classes we are taught about ancient history which has no pertinence to our current times. In muggle History lessons we are taught about wars which have shaped the world and its stereotypes such as the ever terrifying World War two which killed more people than the Wizarding World has to claim. We were taught about how spies were questioned when the war was over and how the perpetrators of vicious crimes against humanity were tried and executed. The fact of the matter is that no matter the scale, the victors of the war will always persecute the survivors."

"What was this World War two about?" I had seemed to get Draco's attention on it.

"It was a terrible war based on racial superiority where the enemy had killed anyone who was seen as inferior to the ultimate drive," I started and smirked at his discomfort clearly suppressed guilt and self doubt. "It started as a campaign by one Adolf Hitler who had seen a niche in post World War one Germany where even its own King was reticent to rule after it had been stripped of all of its might. Hitler had chosen the majority Aryan population as his poster for a greater future in which everything was better than in other countries and for a while it had worked until his plans had reared its ugly head. While the Aryans who could prove themselves lived soundly, in darker parts of the country Hitler had begun one of his Official's Final Solution which involved the slaughter of the unfit and different who had previously only been sentenced to Labour Camps.

"After his invasion of another country the rest of the world had caught on with his deadly schemes and a few of the previous heroes had been taken by surprise at the army which had been created in Germany. Several shattering defeats later by the conjoined forces of countries sharing the same political belief their old allies had joined them through the betrayal of Germany. By the time the war was won by the Allies with a device that could wipe out our existence the world was left shattered at its foundations barely able to hold on to any optimism that had been present when the last war had ended and Germany was left with no control over itself whatsoever. The damage was done though, a new generation of hatred had been spawned and the idea of a superior race exists as a parasite in the minds of everyone corrupting unity forever." I had finished my tale to see Draco looking at me as if I had grown another head.

"This Hitler guy can't be fact, can he?" he asked his eyes full of doubt.

"He is a real person," I confirmed. "The entirety of the muggle world knows about him and World War two."

"That can't be possible though," he started. "Yeah, sure, that freak who hurt you is a possibility, but the idea that one man can sway the opinions of a country and have it result in war is simply too bizarre."

"I am sure that if you ask any muggle-born they will support this fact and may even wish to further elaborate from my summarised version." I turned my head to face the roof again.

"Summarised, Merlin's beard," I heard him huff and I decided to calm him by changing the topic.

"Any way," I heard his attention shift to me through the rustling of his clothes. "What is it that you are so desperately searching for?"

"Oh, uh, something to help move the plan along," he said in his usual manner of mysteriously asking me to beg for information.

"Yes, your illustrious plan which does not concern me," he deflated by the sound of his sigh. "Is there any information you need or any spells which you need performed which will move it along as you say?"

"Yeah, but I don't think you can help me with this," he sounded conceited again so I turned to him with a raised eye brow.

"Surprise me and I may surprise you," I told him dryly.

"The Dark Lord told me that this is meant to be very secret," he went off on his allusion tactic again.

"Very well," I turned my head to look into the flames. "If you don't want help from the person who has been supplying him with cursed objects then I guess you can stumble around hopelessly knowing that you are rejecting some great assistance."

"Well, he said that I had to do it alone," he mumbled before breathing in sharply. "What do you mean you have been supplying him with cursed objects?"

"I mean that in the last week, I have been tirelessly providing objects cursed with the Dark Arts to him." I told him slowly as if he was hard of hearing. "Would you like a list?"

"Of course not!" he exclaimed which had my eyes glancing over to his contemplative expression. "Why, though?"

"Because I did not require further training in the Dark Arts and this was a perfect practise fuller for the time being while he came up with a better plan." I turned back to the roof preferring the numbness of the cold on my face over the sensitivity of heat.

"I am not going to tell you my plan," he started and I rolled my eyes at his remark. "But I will ask of your knowledge and assistance when I need it."

"That sounds amiable enough to rest your frantic searching of an under stocked Library," my jab made me remember my delight of discovering the Room of Requirement's potential. "Did you honestly think that the Ministry would have let you guys keep books which proclaim evil intentions?"

"No!" he seemed offended, but I detected an undertone of hurt pride. "I just thought that something in here would be helpful."

"Sure," I drawled sarcastically. "Any plan involving mystery and evil intent can really be assisted by Ministry approved books. Did last term's Defence teacher teach you nothing?"

"Shut it," he playfully spat out in embarrassment and the grandfather clock had chosen this moment to chime for dinner.

I was sure that Draco did not believe me about World War two and how one man's ideals had managed to sway a nation into a horrific large scale war, but my split decision after deducting that he had been inducted as a Death Eater was an attempt to make him question certain parallels in our worlds and hopefully change his mind about whatever task he had to perform. It was futile, I conceded, but with any hope and constant prodding at his conscious I may be able to dissuade him or ram a wedge in his loyalties to an evil cause. I had also gained an upper hand in my interference by securing his trust to come to me for help which I would most definitely compromise given the fact that many plans revolving around Death Eaters resulted in some terrible death. Sure the free will in the Dark Arts would be a brilliant pro in the event of Voldemort winning the war, but his beliefs sent a clear message; no muggle whatsoever would be allowed to live in his totalitarian rule which I found wrong of him to play god on who was granted the gift of life. I was glad that I was able to moderately shield my mind and push certain thoughts to the back of it because that would give me leeway to break his establishment from the inside seeing as he had this strange intent to cultivate my "Dark Magic". It was difficult and terrifying at the same time, but I owed it to the side of the Light and right morale which my father had raised me with.

Bellatrix had visited for dinner and had grilled me on the objects which I had successfully cursed while raining praises for my job well done with putting several of Voldemort's enemies down with them, I had internally shivered at that guilt prickling its way up my spine. After dinner she had dragged Draco away to the drawing room muttering to him about the plan and aiding him in some way or another which left Narcissa and me to our own devices. Our awkward silence was short lived when I told her that I wanted to make sure that my holiday home work was at "O" standard which had her smiling and telling me that she was glad that I had taken such a serious interest in school. I did not lie about wanting to have my work up to par and while it wasn't as big as a distraction that it had been in my previous year's experience at Hogwarts, I certainly did not desire to fall behind and taint any non-possibilities. After triple checking everything and preparations for bed I had magically drawn the curtains and stared into the darkness casting my mind to the day's events. I placed everything in imaginary books and filed them into my imaginary Library which looked like the one that the Room had managed to create for me, I then let my mind wander to an image of the night sky in my mind and let blankness overwhelm me throwing me into a restful sleep.

My final full day at Malfoy Manor was as normal as ever except for a jarring interjection which progressed rather interestingly seeing as I had only just managed to calm myself through extremely creative mind techniques. After a tense dinner the same man from before had called me, by my first name seemingly reticent to address me by my surname after my last outburst, to the drawing room for another private audience with Voldemort so I had casually traipsed up to the room. His cold "enter" had sounded from within the room and with a little bout of nerves running through my body I had slipped into the room closing the door with a small "click". He seemed to be the repetitive type and had motioned me forwards my body automatically obeying walking towards his back by the fire.

"I wish for this to be brief as I have many tasks which need to be completed," he had started still facing the fire. "I have had my servant, Severus Snape, evaluate your knowledge with the Dark Arts and aid in focussing your mind which as far as his reports indicate have proven successful. I would like to find out how you have experienced this."

"Coming in with expectations of something much severe, this has certainly been a pleasantly refreshing experience." I answered honestly because compared to everything else that I had to learn and use magic for this was challenging at best and a great new topic to study.

"Pleasantly refreshing," he mulled pacing somewhat. "In the beginning of the month as I spoke to you there was an interesting reaction occurring in your mind which was very visible. Would you care to explain?"

"Psychosis," I automatically blurted as he turned his gaze to me. "I mean, the official term given to people bearing those traits is psychotic. It was a reaction to my, uh, abduction and, uh, torture. My biology was permanently altered by a surplus in adrenaline which is a survival chemical and it messed with my brain causing, uh, crazy people syndromes." I was rambling slightly so I shut up as he walked to me to look into my blank eyes.

"Interesting," he mused and I gasped as he took my jaw, a flash of panic running through me, in his hand and tilted my head to inspect my eyes. "This man, even though he is dead, dominates your mind like a parasite, I cannot move past anything because he keeps on getting in the way and pushes me out. How is this?"

"I don't know," I struggled to say this with his hand holding my jaw in a vice. "_He_ got to everyone in _his_ reign of terror; some people just got it a bit worse."

"How curious," he murmured still inspecting my eyes. "And this man has control over your mind and the way you think such control which I have yet to attain."

"It's _his_ way of being, I guess." I remarked and to his intrigued expression I continued through the discomfort of his grasp. "_He_ wanted to send a message and though _his_ mechanisms _he_ managed to change an entire city's psych."

"What are these mechanisms?" his red gaze was beginning to make me feel uncomfortable, but there was little that I could do.

"Social manipulation," I got out. "Become a prominent figure and kill the right people which playing the commoners against each other; it is horrifyingly efficient."

"Social manipulation," he echoed my words in contemplation.

"Yeah, it's a skill few people in history have been able to posses competently as it is something that born instead of made," he grasped me tighter and I shoved my hands into my pockets to prevent me from reaching out. "It can be imitated, but it takes years to get it right."

"I see," he leant in a bit as if he had caught something in my eyes and my chest tightened at the closer proximity. "We are done here."

"Okay," I said calmly, but he did not let me go setting off a few alarms in me.

"If you are intelligent then you will not advertise your stay here and the events surrounding it," he leant closer and my heart started beating rapidly as he had not let me go yet.

"It would be unwise on many parts," I tried to appease him to make him let me go.

"It would be very unwise," he reminded me and let me go all of a sudden making me stumble at the unexpected release. "Now leave, I have other matters to attend to."

I did not need telling twice and blindly fled the room hoping that he wouldn't change his mind about relieving me of his company trying to hold in the slight hysteria that had formed from his inescapable grasp. I decided against the Library and instead went to my room to sort everything in my mind out before I broke down from that horrifyingly familiar caged feeling which only _he_ had managed to inspire before. After several minutes of panting heavily and holding back the hysterical sobs which threatened I had managed to calm enough to sift through the events of the day placing them into appropriate folders before letting the blankness of oblivion overcome me. It was with a sickening twist in my gut that I had later realised that panicked feeling was all too similar to the stress I had undergone in _his_ abduction to a much muted degree, but still present.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke early on an uncharacteristically Monday September first to the tapping of Scarecrow's beak against my window pane evidently with the response from Bruce to my Friday letter. I rose groggily and let her in taking the letter and leaving her a bowl of Owl Treats to nibble on after her no doubt long Trans Atlantic flight which by all accounts would be exhausting. I left the letter on the dresser and prepared for the day and our departure for Hogwarts. After I had completed my task I took the letter with me and my trunk which was shrunken into my school bag down to the dining room, I had left the window open so that Scarecrow could make her own way to school knowing that she was always unruffled by external means of travelling. I greeted Narcissa and Draco who were both somewhat subdued probably anxious about the day's travel and sat down to a piece of warm toast which I nibbled at while opening the letter. I smiled fondly at Bruce's stationery and read on.

_Dear Emily._

_I hope that this reaches you on time so that you are not taken by complete surprise when the media reaches you. I am glad that your friend has managed to teach you some "interesting mental techniques" in order to better focus you and calm you down enough so that you do not experience any more horrible nightmares so please pass on my thanks. I hope that you are sitting down for this next part because I wasn't and that was a very hard stumble_

_Our mutual batty friend has been lurking in the streets to look for any upcoming threats to the city and he stumbled upon a piece of terrifying news. After his life support was turned off a one Salvatore Maroni has died and his son Anthony Maroni recovered his forces and has gathered the remaining crime families together to unite against a common "enemy" and this time they aren't interested in killing the Batman. Anthony Maroni has clearly held a vendetta against your father for some time after the events of summer last year and has put a revenge hit on you offering a large sum of money for you dead or alive. I think it would be unwise to not inform you of this after your coma and the causes for it as you need to be vigilant. I am not sure about how many people he has linked in the Wizarding World, but the words will probably have hit Britain where the media is aware that you are attending school and Maroni has gathered up enough steam for either the inhabitants wanting a piece of the money or for many criminals going to Britain to bring you back. I am working on neutralising the threats on home soil at the moment and when I am satisfied that no one is going to be flying over I will come and sort out security on your side. I have already made sure that the King's Cross will be covered by as much surveillance as possible and that the police are aware of the present situation. It is because of this that I think it unwise to expose you over Christmas and that your school would be the safest place for you to be at regrettably so because I would really enjoy to see you again. Your task is to remain vigilant of everything, even magical as you never know until it is too late, and to avoid the media's eye as much as possible so that your location is hard to pin point for the mob._

_I am so sorry to burden you with this horrible knowledge, but I don't want you to be left in the dark about this. I wish you well for the term ahead and try not to stress too much, just be vigilant._

_Love_

_Bruce._

I blinked several times and re-read the letter to make sure that I wasn't hallucinating or misread anything, but on the third time I had conceded defeat with a slump of my shoulders and a large sigh of distress. This piece of news should not surprise me really seeing as my father had put away half the criminals in the city and nearer to his death killed several mob connections even threatening Salvatore Maroni and crashing his car which probably led to his death. It was only natural that the mob and especially Anthony Maroni would want full scale retribution and what better way to do it than hurting the perpetrators loved ones, but I couldn't let go of how unfair this was as I was kidnapped at the time and had no involvement whatsoever. I could lie and say that I wasn't scared, but the truth was that I was terrified at the possibilities that the hit had implied and felt rather weary at the renewed sense of hyper vigilance.

"Uh," I started after some time of internal reflection. "What are the mechanics behind our getting to the station?"

"Mechanics," Draco started to ask, but was cut off by Narcissa.

"A Ministry employee will accompany you to the station at half past ten via Side-Along Apparition," she interjected her face betraying signs of distress.

"Okay," my hands were shaking as I folded the letter and placed it in my bag.

"Is there any reason why you wanted to know?" she asked noticing the way I placed my hands in my lap to prevent the shaking from becoming obvious.

"Oh, no!" my voice pitched slightly. "I just heard that security has become tighter."

"Where did you hear that? You don't read the paper." Draco scrutinised me.

"I, uh, assumed that's all," my appetite was definitely killed for this morning and I pushed away from the table. "I am going to wait in the drawing room."

"I will have an Elf call for you when it is time to leave," Narcissa called out to me as I left the room not at all content with people at the moment.

I felt cold, that mental creeping cold that eats at one's mind, even in front of the raging fire place which I constantly jabbed my wand at to get the flames to rise and become hotter. I let the minutes tick by with my anxiety gripping me tightly by the throat and constricting my airways quickening my breathing and letting pin pricks of tears form in my ducts. If the media has received word about this then they are going to have a field day; I concluded as the Elf popped in making me jump about a foot off the arm chair and spinning with my wand faced in its direction. After apologising profusely to the poor stuttering creature I had checked my belongings and made my way to the entrance where I heard Narcissa telling a chagrined Draco not to turn into a slug on the train again while the Ministry employee sniggered at the conversation. It wasn't too long before we were staggering around in a public restroom which was thankfully empty and walking the remaining block to the station with my scarf and sun glasses obscuring my identity to the befuddled expressions of my companions. I felt no need to explain my behaviour to them and was glad that I had remembered this precaution because as we entered the station, we had to walk around the clamouring media which was blocked by a wall of police men. It was with huge relief when we passed through the barrier that I was able to remove my scarf and stop looking around as if someone was about to jump out and shoot me at any second.

I did not bother to linger and set off in search of Luna Lovegood who I found holding onto a copy of her father's magazine which was promoting a free pair of glasses and after a brief greeting we set off in search of more people to share a compartment with. We had eventually found Neville Longbottom and we climbed onto a very busy train full of people with Neville spotting Harry Potter and rushing up to him with Luna and me following him. Harry had greeted us and after enquiring about _the Quibbler_ which was doing very well we set off in search of a compartment with the talk turning to our popularity in the school. After we had settled in our empty compartment Harry and Neville spoke about how Neville's grandmother was so thrilled about last year that she had even purchased him a new wand which had been the last one that Ollivander had sold before his disappearance which piqued my interest slightly. Luna had asked Harry if there were going to be any more Dumbledore's Army lessons to which he had replied that after the Bridge's expulsion from the castle they wouldn't be necessitated, but I had supported Neville and Luna in that it was fun and very engaging. Harry was about to say something when a gaggle of giggling girls had intruded on our privacy by asking him if he wanted to join them in their compartment to which he had supported us by telling them that we were his friends. The girls had looked much put off and retreated leaving us feeling awkward with Luna expressing what we all thought, but Harry had rebuffed her by saying that we were the ones at the Ministry with him and I had thanked him after he had said that we were cool. The subject had quickly turned to O.W.L scores and I turned to watch the passing landscape which seemed to blur into the country rather quickly and I wondered about the mechanisms of the train. Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley had come back from their prefect duties with Ron complaining about the lunch trolley and his hunger and telling Harry about an interesting titbit of information about how Draco wasn't present for the meeting. After Hermione had remarked that after the Inquisitorial Squad being a prefect would probably seem rather tame Harry was about to say something when a third year had called him and Neville away to meet the new professor who was on the train. I slumped and made a mental note to tell Harry about Draco's new allegiance when I got the chance to and he gave off the impression that he would believe me.

"Emily," Luna had called my attention to her as she peered over her magazine. "You never told me how your holiday went; was it better than the last?"

"Oh, yes!" the others had made a bad attempt at looking like they weren't eaves dropping. "Gotham's crime rate has been rather tame in comparison, no unexpected explosions at hospitals and armed kidnap."

"That's nice," she said loftily. "In your last letter you said that you had some great news to tell me in person."

"Yeah!" the others were shifting around. "You know that very bad criminal who made a lot of bad things happen which resulted in my father's death?"

"Yes. Was he caught?" she asked hopefully.

"Uh, _he_ was found dead by the police after several explosions alerted them of _his_ whereabouts." I said recounting the public version. "No one knows what killed _him_, but everyone was very happy because it meant that the city has now gotten much safer."

"Are you sure that you are happy?" she asked.

"I think so, but at the same time I guess that I am more relieved because I don't have to look over my shoulder every time I go out and I don't have to worry about my loved ones getting caught in the cross fires of a very dangerous situation." I frowned and suppressed the image of a flash of green light.

"I suppose that is good then," she smiled. "What did you get up to other than celebrating?"

"I learned a bit about Bruce's business for the future and some estranged relatives tried to cling on to my new publicity that last year has given me," the last bit wasn't entirely a lie if one squinted at the truth long enough.

"What did you do with them?" she asked intrigued as I had never really opened myself up on the matter of family.

"They tried to convince me of their beliefs and took me for a whirl wind of reconnecting family activities," this was a bit of the actual truth with nothing extreme mentioned.

The return of Neville ended the conversation and was my cue to change into my robes so I had left with them stuffed in bag to the lavatories where I kept the mirror blanked out. I returned to the compartment with a few probing stares which I ignored in favour of staring at the darkening sky as I thought about the new threat of the mob and how to deal with it. I considered returning the gesture by killing Anthony Maroni myself, but I pulled myself out of that thought quickly with a startled shake of my head shocked at my direction of thinking. When I reviewed the plan, however, it seemed like the most logical decision to make because it would wipe out the core of the problem and everything else would shatter like glass without a frame to hold it in place, but another consideration jabbed me at the side telling me that I wouldn't be so lucky to have another murder go unnoticed. That concept cowed me into deciding to lay low for a while and let the adults sort this one out in the most legal manner as possible although I was sure that the Gotham Police Department wasn't publically aware of anything just yet and an "anonymous" tip off from the Batman would only serve to raise their hackles in the wrong direction. The train jerked to a stop bringing me out of my mind to realise that everyone had managed to change while I wasn't locus mentis and were standing to leave.

We had debated about a still absent Harry and after concluding that he was fully capable of finding his way back we had found a carriage to complete the final leg of the trip. We had split ways with Luna and me wondering off to the Ravenclaw table and the others heading to the Gryffindor table. I looked around for Harry, but when I did not see him and instead saw Draco mimicking something to do with a nose to the laughter of his friends I got a bad feeling about his fate. The Sorting was the same as it always was with the Hat giving some advice about uniting with old enemies which was all fair and well except none of the advice was accompanied with instructions on how to get this done. Harry had confirmed my suspicions of Draco having something to do with his disappearance when he arrived half way through the feast sporting a bloody face and a set expression. I was too anxious to even bother with eating anything as I sat stewing over my newfound paranoia that Anthony could have people placed in the Wizarding World ready to strike at me.

Professor Dumbledore had risen after the food had cleared away which stole my attention to his right hand which was blackened and with a curious twinge I had realised that the limb had become infected by an extremely Dark curse. I recognised the magic and with a narrowed glance to professor Snape I suspected that he could have been the one to aid in trapping the curse to the one limb although I was sure that time wasn't exactly favouring professor Dumbledore at the moment. The headmaster had dismissed everyone's attention to the limb and set to reminding the school at large about the main school rules, but my mind stored the thought that he was working on something to defeat Voldemort despite Harry's new status as "the Chosen One". The new staffing arrangements sounded grim with professor Slughorn becoming the new Potions Master while professor Snape took over the role of the new Defence teacher which I wasn't upset about because he was clearly competent in the subject. The one year jinx had me worried and while nothing terribly bad has happened in the past, professor Snape's departure from the position would truly be something else. My worrying had little time to properly process much of professor Dumbledore's warning speech about Voldemort and his urging of safety measures. Nothing impressed me more, however, than his switch from his dark and sombre tone to his enthused manner in dismissing everyone to bed. I was torn about whether or not to warn Harry about Draco, but when I saw that he was otherwise engaged in conversation I decided that I would wait for the apt moment. I trudged up to the Ravenclaw common room and prepared myself for the evening after dismissing that old feeling of restlessness which urged me to explore the castle. I struggled to clear my mind, but I understood the implications of not doing so and did not give up eventually feeling cleared enough by midnight to fall asleep confidently.

The first day back in the swing of lessons was surprisingly refreshing as I expected the boredom which I had experienced in my previous term's worth of lessons and I was pleased by them. I had arrived at breakfast early eager to quickly sort out my subject elections which excluded History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures, the former lacking in any worth to me and the latter due to my difficulty with being on friendly terms with magical creatures. I also decided against Astronomy for study time reasons and the fact that I would be able to learn about it in so much more depth in the muggle world. After shoving down a piece of warm toast in my throat I had sprinted off to my first class being Ancient Runes which I had taken for linguistics reasons as it could be applied liberally. I smiled at the amount of home work we had received in the lesson while the others groaned at the work load.

I was excitedly bouncing on my feet when it came to the next lesson which was Defence with professor Snape. While everyone had a gloomy sense of foreboding about his new position I was happily anticipating the lesson because if one thought about it logically: professor Snape would be shades better than the rest of our teachers who only had knowledge of Light magic while he had experience with knowing about the Dark Arts. I had been the first to enter and sit in the front to his new decorations of several paintings depicting the Dark Arts in action with the curtains drawn highlighting the seriousness of the subject. He had requested that we put our books away and had launched into an introductory speech about how we have had several teachers and spoke of the Dark Arts as if it was a precise and very fine art that needed finesse in order for one to properly defend one's self. After praising the merits of non-verbal magic he had told us to partner up with Draco clamping to my side probably not trusting any of his house mates to mess anything up.

"Now I know that you have an arsenal of nasty spells up your sleeve, but could you please use a Light one?" he asked in a low voice.

"Sure, how about you try to jinx me and I will deflect?" I offered after a snigger and he faced me while screwing up his face in concentration.

"That sounds preferable," he pointed his wand at me and I became alert. "I have been doing some research for my plan and I need for you to cast a Protean Charm for me."

"Concentrate," I ordered him as professor Snape passed as and continued when he was out of ear shot. "Why can't you do it?"

"Because I need you to secure it," he frowned and flicked his wand producing nothing. "You are the only one I can think of that will get it right."

"Security as in making the charm resilient and undetectable, right?" he nodded and flicked his wand half heartedly. "I can do that. How dark do you need it?"

"I don't want it to kill the intended users, but it has to be so that if anyone finds it they won't be able to use it or see any messages," he frowned again.

"I see," my eyes swept around for any eaves droppers and finding none I continued. "There is a magical signature which will require all users to be present, understood?"

"I understand," our conversation was cut short when a clutter had averted our attention to professor Snape giving Harry a detention for whatever cheek he had given him.

"Let the users be aware of their required presence and I will contact you when I have figured out a method of combination," I had told Draco silently as we walked out of the class room. "And do be a dear and not mention my involvement, I am only doing this to save your neck."

"Understood," he had called out to my retreating figure heading off to my next lesson of Arithmancy.

Arithmancy was a great deal engaging with the mathematics required in the subject which was my reason for my continuation in it. Mathematics was a much needed quality to be proficient in dealing with the muggle world as many developments all needed a figure or a complex calculation. After my double free period, I had decided against lunch in lieu of doing a home work power session, Potions was a very interesting experience with a new teacher and I was eager to take part in a casual comparison project. There were very few people who had made it into N.E.W.T level Potions which did not surprise me and I delighted in finding myself a seat in the front of the class. While Harry and Ron were given temporary books for the subject as they did not anticipate their acceptance professor Slughorn set to questioning the class about the three cauldrons in front. I listened while Hermione shot off information I already knew about Veritaserum, Polyjuice Potion and Amortentia while I discerned that the fourth "mysterious" cauldron contained Felix Felicis. After the teacher and Hermione told the class about its properties as "liquid luck" we were set on to a competition to win the illusive luck potion by brewing a perfect Draught of Living Death potion. As I lazily set to task I contemplated what I could possibly need luck for when I remembered that it would be the perfect way to sort out the issue that Anthony had created for me. I entertained fantasies of finally being free of my troubles while slowly going about my work realising that if I won the potion and if I found myself in a compromised frame of mind the temptation would be too dire and that the pendulum would always find a way to re balance my bad luck. When Harry had won the potion he was showered by a rain of praising from professor Slughorn who by the sounds of it had taught his mother, Lily, and seemed to cling on to her memory as if she was his only ray of sunshine. I ignored everything else as I packed away my belongings wondering if, with the right amount of determination, I could make the potion myself before frowning as I mentally scolded myself for thinking down that path. I had turned to the door with the class already empty before a clearing throat had caught my attention.

"If I am not much mistaken you are Emily Wayne, right?" I turned to the pensive looking professor.

"Yes, sir, excellent lesson and perfect strategy to gauge the competency of the class," I complimented him and he smiled.

"Yes," he took the compliment well by the tone of his voice. "I was just wondering though, you did not seem eager to win as you looked rather deliberate about your slowness."

"Ah, that," I smiled sadly. "While I am sure that professor Snape and the other teachers have passed on a good word about my academic performance I am very sure that I could have that potion done quickly with a few magical alterations that I have picked up. I did not want to win."

"Why is that?" he frowned in confusion, but also seemed taken by my admission that I had figured out magical means of improving potions. "One is always eager to have a bit of extra luck."

"I am positively a very unlucky person, but in the several cases where my luck has been astronomical the pendulum always swings back in unfavourable situations," I explained. "Besides with my disposition I may be badly tempted only to have everything lash back at me in several years time."

"I see," he considered something. "I don't recognise your surname, who may your relatives be?"

"Uh, my father was a major law enforcer who managed to get a lock on many criminals, but he died sometime ago and I was adopted by a successful business man." I said this unsure of where the conversation was headed.

"What is his name?" he was clearly befuddled.

"Bruce Wayne, but he is a muggle so I don't think that you will find anything on him unless he has a few magical divisions of his company," I was now befuddled although the professor had beamed at me.

"That's all right, I was just curious," the gears in his mind were turning. "I have kept you long enough, I am sure that you are famished because you missed lunch. Now head along and do remember that sometimes luck can be a good thing."

"Thank you, sir, and do have a pleasant evening." I left him to pack up his class room for the night.

I had decided against dinner in favour of completing home work and starting assignments while the back of my mind worked on putting together the Protean Charm adjustments that Draco had requested. I was also thinking about how I was going to tell Harry about Draco's descent into the ranks of Voldemort without him immediately suspecting me of foul play as well as information like this was rather precarious to have. I had worked well into midnight and after I had put my finished work away I decided that while the Room was a great temptation I was reticent about falling back into the habit that had started all of my worries. I would instead work in the relative silence of the Ravenclaw common room and if needed I would go to the Library; the Room would only be my last resort for extra information. As I lay in bed after clearing my mind I randomly decided to practise a simple non-verbal Lumos to fall asleep and I found by my fifth try I was doing it proficiently enough. I fell asleep to the great emptiness of my mind.


End file.
